The First Post

Welcome to the Launch of American Soccer Now

Why did we create this U.S. soccer-obsessed, highly interactive Web site? Glad you asked. Here's a brief description of who we are, what we're all about, and where it all goes from here.

BY
John Godfrey
Posted
September 28, 2012
8:00 PM

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1. What is AmericanSoccerNow.com?
AmericanSoccerNow.com is a new editorial Web site, launched in October 2012, devoted to covering, celebrating, and critiquing the American version of the beautiful game. Since the World Cup is the ultimate destination for players and fans alike, we will place a heavy emphasis on the United States national team, its roster, and its continuing development. But we will also cover the best of Major League Soccer, Americans playing overseas, rising stars, emerging trends, and really, any compelling story that involves an American trying to kick a ball into the back of a net. For the moment we are focusing on the men's game. But we will also cover the U.S. women's national team on a regular basis.

2. Why does the world need another soccer site?
Maybe it doesn't. We'll find out. But we wanted to create a site that married the classic components of quality storytelling—clean writing, smart design, beautiful photography—with interactive content modules that enable a more immersive experience. Sometimes it's enough to be a consumer—to simply read an article or look at a slideshow or view a video. But sometimes it's more rewarding to dive into the content, move the pieces around, and co-author the material. We've created a custom-built platform that enables both types of experiences.

3. What the hell are you talking about?
For starters, check out the ASN 100—it's an interactive ranking of the best American players. Our panel of 10 experts—including Grant Wahl and former U.S. national team players Alexi Lalas and Taylor Twellman—ranked the top American players from 1 to 100. But instead of simply publishing a passive list, we created an HTML5-optimized module that lets you sort and filter and play around with the content. Want to see which ASN 100 player has the most national team appearances? Click on the Caps button and the players will shift right in front of you. Want to see the tallest player on the list? The shortest? Players from Maryland? Players in the Bundesliga? Who has the most Twitter followers? And the least? The ASN 100 lets you do all of that. Our Starting XI, Infographics, and Player Ratings modules all feature similar doses of interactivity, and we 1) encourage you to check them out and 2) hope you like them.

4. Where do you go from here?
We have lots of ideas, many of which are already in development, but we also want to hear from you. What do you like? What do you hate? What else would you like to see on the site? We built AmericanSoccerNow.com to be the ultimate destination for U.S. soccer fans—a place soccer obsessives like us would visit multiple times every day. We need your help to get there. So leave comments or send a note.

5. Anything else?
Yes. We're on Facebook and Twitter—@ThisIsASN. Please Like and Follow if you are so inclined. And thanks for checking us out. We hope you like what you see.